Insomnia

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

Insomnia facts

Insomnia is a condition characterized by poor quality and/or quantity of sleep,
despite adequate opportunity to sleep, which leads to daytime functional
impairment.

Many medical and psychiatric conditions may be responsible for causing
insomnia.

Some common symptoms of insomnia include daytime sleepiness and fatigue,
mood changes, poor concentration and attention, anxiety, headaches, lack of
energy, and increased errors and mistakes.

Insomnia may, at times, be unrelated to any underlying condition.

There are several useful non-medical behavioral techniques available for
treating insomnia.

Medications are widely used to treat insomnia in conjunction with
non-medical strategies.

Sleep specialists are medical doctors who can play an important role in
evaluating and treating long-standing (chronic) insomnia.

What is insomnia?

Insomnia is defined as difficulty initiating or maintaining
sleep, or both,
despite adequate opportunity and time to sleep, leading to impaired daytime
functioning. Insomnia may be due to poor quality and/or quantity of sleep.

Insomnia is very common and occurs in 90% of the general population has
experienced acute insomnia at least once.
Approximately 10% of the population may suffer from chronic (long-standing)
insomnia.

Insomnia affects people of all ages including children, although it is more
common in adults and its frequency increases with age. In general, women are
affected more frequently than men.

Insomnia may be divided into three classes based on the
duration of symptoms.

Insomnia lasting one week or less may be termed transient
insomnia;

short-term insomnia lasts more than one week but resolves in less
than three weeks; and

long-term or chronic insomnia lasts more than three weeks.

Insomnia can also be classified based on the underlying reasons for insomnia
such as sleep hygiene, medical conditions, sleep disorders,
stress factors, and so on.

It is important to make a distinction between insomnia
and other similar terminology; short duration sleep and sleep deprivation.

Short
duration sleep may be normal in some individuals who may require less time for
sleep without feeling daytime impairment, the central symptom in the definition
of insomnia.

In insomnia, adequate time and opportunity for sleep is available,
whereas in sleep deprivation, lack of sleep is due to lack of opportunity or
time to sleep because of voluntary or intentional avoidance of sleep.